Immigrationboards.com

Hello.

My wife has a Trinity College B1 (GESE 5) certificate from 2014, which is an approved course, but her exam wasn't taken at an approved test centre, because in 2014 there weren't any rules about having to take the exam from specific SELT centres. That rule came in in 2015. With that B1 certificate my wife actually got her ILR.

In fact, my wife said on her ILR application cover letter that she was applying under the 3 year route to settlement (transitional rules) because she had applied for the spouse visa to come to the UK before the July 2012 stricter rules came in, £18600 earnings etc.

After getting her ILR we didn't apply for naturalisation a year later because we just didn't get round to it. Now we want to, but we are not sure if she has to re-take the B1 test at an approved centre, or will the old certificate suffice because she is on transitional rules.

I assume her transitional rules status continues and is applicable for the naturalisation application too, not that this matters in terms of earnings or length of stay in UK (I have been earning above £18600 since before 2012, and now she has been in the UK for 6 years also), but I am asking with respect to the B1 certificate specifically.

According to gov.uk, it seems to suggest that expired certificates of approved courses (from approved centres) can still be used in naturalisation applications, and that the test doesn't have to be re-done, but it doesn't clearly explain if that also applies if the test location wasn't an approved SELT centre. Chances are that expired tests would have to be re-done if it wasn't taken at an approved centre, but what if the applicant applied for ILR via the transitional rules?

Your advice would be much appreciated.

I assume her transitional rules status continues and is applicable for the naturalisation application too

Don't confuse the transitional Immigration Rules with Nationality LAWS. They are separate, different and independent of each other.

She might be ok, she might not. If not, she loses her citizenship fee of £1330 and only gets £80 back. A new English test costs £150.

To use an expired test, it usually must be at the level of an HO approved test AND at from an HO approved test provider.

Thank you for your response. Having done some more research I think I have my answer. On page 14 of the "Naturalisation as a British citizen – A guide for applicants To be read in conjunction with Booklet AN" document it states:

If you have a B1 level qualification that was accepted for the purposes of a
settlement application, then you do not need to pass another English language test
for your citizenship application.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... _Final.pdf

If I am wrong, please do correct me. Thank you again for your help.

You can use expired certificate if it had been used for previous applications with HO, but still there is a strict condition that the test and the centre must be on their list. Otherwise you have to take another test.

Yes. I'd rather pay £150 than potentially lose the application fee. Thanks again.